EVALUATION OF FORAGE SORGHUM GENOTYPES FOR PRODUCTION, PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY AT DIFFERENT FERTILIZER LEVELS
SATPAL, J. TOKAS, K. K. BHARDWAJ, S. DEVI, P. KUMARI, S. ARYA, NEELAM AND SURESH KUMAR
Forage Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Department of Soil Science, Department of Botany & Plant Physiology and Department of Agronomy
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : satpal.fpj@gmail.com)
(Received : 20 May 2019; Accepted : 5 June 2019)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted at Hisar (Haryana), India during the Kharif season of 2017 to study the effect of different fertilizer levels on production, productivity and quality of forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] genotypes. Seven single-cut forage sorghum genotypes (SPH 1822, SPV 2316, SPV 2387, SPV 2388, CSH 13, CSV 21F and CSV 30F) were tested at three fertilizer levels (75, 100 and 125% recommended dose of fertilizer) in factorial RBD. Among genotypes, highest green fodder and dry matter yields were recorded in SPV 2387 (45.89 and 12.32 t/ha, respectively) which were on a par with SPV 2388, CSV 21F and CSV 30F. The highest crude protein yield (CPY) and digestible dry matter yield (DDMY) were also recorded in SPV 2387 being on a par with CSV 21F & CSV 30F for CPY and CSV 30F & SPV 2388 for DDMY. The crude protein content was not affected significantly among genotypes. The highest IVDMD content estimated in test hybrid SPH 1822 was on a par with SPV 2387, SPV 2388, CSH 13 and CSV 30F. Highest TSS (11.74%) estimated in CSV 30F which was on a par with SPV 2387. Among fertilizer levels, significantly highest green fodder, dry matter, CPY and DDMY (44.40, 11.79, 1.01 and 6.26 t/ha, respectively) were recorded with 125% RDF over the lower fertilizer levels. The magnitude of the increase in yield with 125% RDF was 20.0 and 8.1 per cent in GFY; 20.3 and 7.8 per cent in DMY; 36.5 and 13.5 per cent in CPY and 31.8 and 11.2 per cent in DDMY over 75% and 100% RDF, respectively. With increased fertilizer levels, the
HCN content at 30 days after sowing increased from 66 to 107 µg/g on fresh weight basis but it was less than the critical limit. Significantly highest crude protein content and IVDMD (8.55 and 53.03 %) were estimated with 125% RDF. In nutshell, genotype SPV 2387 and CSV 21F performed better and application of 125% RDF was the most suitable fertilization practice to achieve the maximum fodder yield with better quality.
Key words: Fertilizer levels, forage sorghum, HCN, crude protein, IVDMD and TSS